Recognitions
by ponytail30527
Summary: A cute family moment for the penguins. What will happen when Elli, Private's daughter, breaks her leg? Can Skipper comfort a worried Private?


**Major shout out to Stargazer128! She gave me the idea, so she gets the credit for this story! Its part of a short story series called little zoo series. Enjoy! Also read a few of her stories that she'll be writing! **

**I don't own the Penguins of Madagascar.**

"Marshal, you know I can beat you!" Elli's British accent echoed the H.Q. after Marshal had challenged Elli to a race while the others were watching T.V. The thing is, Elli was the fastest penguin, so she had beaten Marshal in all of their races.

"Nope, not this time! I've been practicing!" Marshal said as he readied himself for a race around the H.Q. "On my mark, one…two…purple!" he laughed when Elli started to run. "No, no, no Elli, I didn't say _three_!"

Elli huffed as she waddled back to the starting line, which was a blue line that Marshal drew on the concrete with chalk. "That's cheating...I think." She said tapping her beak. "Anyways, let's actually _race _this time.

Marshal laughed again. "Okay, I'll be fair this time. One…two…three!"

They were off!

The first thing Elli realized was that Marshal _had _been practicing! They were neck and neck as they dashed around the T.V., making the others smile at the two running around, tumbled under the tables, zigzagged through the chairs in their way. Elli was sure she was going to win again, but there was one thing she didn't see coming. There was a small dent in the concrete right in front of the finish line.

"I win-OW!" she fell to the ground clutching her leg with tears in her eyes.

"I won!" Marshal said at the finish line, but then he turned around and noticed Elli. "Elli! Oh snap!" He ran over to her forgetting his victory immediately. "Are you okay?" he asked holding Elli's little head up in his flippers as he crouched down next to her.

Elli shook her head knocking the tears from her brown eyes and onto her fluffy down feathers around them. "My leg, I think it's broken."

Marshal looked at her leg and gasped. "M-maybe it's supposed to twist like that." he said trying not to freak Elli out.

"It really hurts!" Elli cried.

Marshal took a deep breath trying to calm down. He reached down to her foot, but the moment he put force on it, even with one tiny tap of his down feathers, Elli let out a loud scream of pain getting everyone's attention away from the T.V.

"Elli!" Private gasped in horror.

The others quickly made their way over to her. "What happened?" Kowalski asked looking down at the two. At the angle Marshal was sitting and where they were looking, his head blocked Elli's badly twisted foot.

Marshal turned around brought Elli's twisted foot in their sight. Everyone gasped.

Skipper gave a look at Marshal.

Marshal opened his beak offended. "I didn't hurt her! She fell, I swear!" Marshal said, below him Elli nodded showing he was telling the truth. "See?" he said looking up at the others showing he was innocent.

"Kowalski, give me options for a broken leg." Skipper ordered.

Kowalski took out one of his clipboards. "We'll need to put it in a cast." Kowalski said putting it away after writing a few options down. "I'm not exactly sure how bad it's broken, but it might be painful if I try to put pressure on her leg if we do."

Elli moaned and Private held her small flipper in comfort. "It's okay Elli, your Uncle Kowalski will have you fixed in no time."

Elli looked up and smiled at her dad. "Alright"

Skipper had to smile at this cute family moment. Private had always been the kids of the team, the most naïve and inexperienced, but something changed when the penguin was around his daughter. It was like he grew a few years older, but he didn't change completely. Skipper knew what it was though. An instinct, his paternal instinct.

Private carefully picked up Elli by her flippers so her foot dangled freely. He faced his team with a worried look. "What should I do now?" he asked in a whisper.

Kowalski took out a small cinder block for an operating table. "Place her down here Private." He said to the worried father, who did what he said. "Okay, Elli, I want you to tell me if what I do is hurting you in anyway." He said looking down at her.

She nodded trying not to show she was freaked out. "I'll try." She took hold of her dad's flipper as he held it out to her.

Kowalski gently tapped her leg.

"OW!" Elli cried out. "That hurt!"

"Kowalski, could you maybe tap lighter?" Private said as Elli squeezed his flipper from pain.

Kowalski tapped it again lighter this time, but she still moaned in pain. He turned towards his leader. "I can't operate on her without it being extremely painful. We'll need to take her to the ve-" he looked at Elli, who was scared of vets from one of Marshal's many scary storied. "I mean the v-e-t." he whispered.

"I can spell a three letter word solider-oh!" Skipper said when Kowalski pointed down at Elli. "It means fun! It's a boat load of fun to go the vet-I mean fun!" he corrected himself.

"I can spell too." Elli said she sat her head up. "I'm fine really. I don't need to go to the-" she shuddered. "-vet." She sat the rest of herself up on the block of concrete, but when she tried to move her leg, she yelped and a few more tears ran up to her eyes. "Okay, maybe a small visit will do me good." She said looking up at the eight with an _I told you so _look on their faces.

Private patted her back. "I'll be right by your side."

"Promise?" Elli asked.

Private picked Elli up so she was on his shoulder. "I promise."

Skipper smiled again and thought how Private was a great father. "Let's go get Alice's attention. She's our only key to getting Elli there before that leg gets infected. Trust me Elli; a snake bite is less dangerous than an infected leg. You can suck the venom, but you have to cut off the leg."

"Don't worry, the doctor will put you on medication to get you asleep, so you won't feel a thing." Kowalski said to comfort her as well.

"Don't they do that when they put animals to sleep?" Marshal asked.

Elli tensed up and gripped hard on Private's neck. "I change my mind! I don't want to go to the vet! Please, I'm fine really. I just need to rest."

"MARSHAL!" all the penguins, except Marshal and Elli, yelled. Rico and Buttons growled.

"Sorry" Marshal said with an innocent smile.

Private sighed. "Let's get Elli to the vet before someone scares her again." He said before jumping on the ladder with his daughter still on his shoulder.

"Marshal" Athena said quietly as she made her way up on the ladder.

"Shut up" Marshal said as he followed her up.

**On the top of the H.Q. . . . . . . . . . . **

"Hey zoo keeper, we need some help over here!" Marshal hollered out when all eight of them were on the H.Q. "We've got an injury here! You could save her if you just tried!" continued getting overly dramatic, as usual. He waved his flipper over his head "Over here! She's dying here!"

"I'm going to die?" Elli hollered out holding Private's head harder.

"MARSHAL!" everyone called out putting their flippers on their sides.

Alice looked over to where all the squawking was, and saw the penguins. "What now?" she said with a sigh. She looked over at the penguins and noticed that one of the little ones was placed on an older one's shoulder like a human father and daughter. "How come every time something like this happens, _I'm _the only one that see's it?" she asked to herself as she picked up a wooden plank to get over there with."Okay, what seems to be the problem?" she asked in a cheery voice that she uses on all the animals.

Elli made a quiet sound, but she squeezed harder on her dad's neck nervously.

Alice leaned down and frowned when she noticed her twisted leg. "Oh my, it looks like someone has to go to the vet's today!" she said in a cheery tone.

"Well you seem awfully happy about it." Marshal mumbled.

"Uh…no?" Elli said getting nervous again. Alice picked her up anyways. "Ah! No! Daddy, help!" she cried out as the red head carried her away. "I feel like that lady on King Kong." She grumbled to herself as she was carried further and further away.

"Calm down Elli! We'll be there in a minute!" Private called out to her knowing she can get frightened pretty easily, but as her dad, he knew what calmed her down. "Just stay calm, take a deep breath now. Ready? One….two…three." he counted slowly to Elli, who was taking deep breaths like she was told.

A few moments later, she was out of their sight. A few minutes after that, the seven left to go to the vet's.

**At the vet. . . . . . . . . **

Elli sat in a metal cage alone and afraid. "Where are they?" she asked herself looking around the empty room for what seemed to be decades. It felt so cold in there, she needed one, anyone, familiar face. She cradled herself at the corner of the cage shivering. She was about to cry, when they finally arrived. "Daddy!" she called out to Private, who was in front of them all at the window that always seems to be open.

"Hello sweet heart!" his British voice called out to her. "Are you alright?" he asked nearing the cage and putting his flippers on the cold bars.

"I-I'm sc-cared." She stammered making her way up to her dad, but she really wanted to hug him.

Private smiled. "It's alright, I'm right here."

Just then they heard two steps of footsteps belonging to Alice and the veterinarian. "She's in here Doc, I don't know what happened, but her foot's so twisted up, I thought it was on backwards!" she told him as they walked down the hallway.

"She'll be fine. As long as she has a safety cast to protect it." The doctor said. "I'll have to inject some medication into her to calm down her foot nerves. I'd hate to have to hurt her."

Private smiled at Elli. "See, they're not going to hurt you!" he said with a laugh. He turned around to go back to the others, but Elli held onto his flipper from inside the cage.

"Stay, please?" she begged.

Private smiled. She was really scared; she could feel her flipper shaking in his. "Okay, I'll stay."

Elli smiled. "Thank you"

That's when the doctor came in. "Oh, uh…what are you doing here?" he asked the penguin. He then noticed how he was holding onto her flipper. "Oh, you must be the guardian over her! That was mighty sweet of Alice to do that! She always said you were adapted that way!" he exclaimed happily.

Private smiled and watch him take Elli out of her cage and place her on a table where her foot was placed on a small pillow as a lift. She felt cold with the metal pressed against her back, but Private standing over her made her feel warm inside and it spread to her outsides as well. "Okay little fella, you won't feel a thing when I put this in you." He said holding up a shot with a long needle poking out the top.

Elli gulped. "I can't wait." She lied. She reached out to her dad's flipper as the doctor put the medicine in her. "Good night daddy." She said looking up at a tearing up Private with a smile. After a few minutes, she was asleep and the doctor began to operate on her leg.

Private let go of her flipper and waddled over to the window that was open where the others were on the bottom. "What's the matter Private?" Skipper asked placing a flipper on his back noticing the tears in his eyes. "Aren't you happy that she's getting her leg fixed?"

Private sniffed. "It's just that…it looked like they were putting her to sleep for a moment there. I couldn't imagine what I'd do if…" he stopped not wanting to go further and put his flippers up at his eyes. He felt ashamed that he was crying in front of Skipper.

Skipper gave Private a sad smile and patted his back. "Monster trucks Private, Monster trucks."

**Later that day. . . . . . . . **

All seven penguins sat around the H.Q. kind of bored. They missed Elli and it didn't feel the same without her. Marshal sighed and he sat down next to Skipper in front of the T.V. "Do you hate me dad?"

"What?" Skipper said looking down at his son. He placed the remote down "No, why would I hate you?"

"I feel like it was my fault. If I didn't ask Elli to race me again, she'd be here right now." He replied putting his head in his flippers in a bored way. "I miss her."

"Me too" everyone said, or grunted, following with a sigh.

"I missed you all too." A small British voice said. The others turned around to see Elli limping in with a small white cast on her leg. "The doctor said to Alice that I'd have to come back in a week, but if my legs alright, I might be able to get it off in two weeks tops." She explained with a small smile.

The others ran up to her and gave her a group hug.

"Aw" Elli replied with a laugh when she was in everyone's flippers. "You're too sweet!"

That made everyone laugh, "welcome home Elli" Private said giving her a fatherly hug.

**Okay, my first one-shot story for the little zoo series is completed! =)**

**Remember read some from Stargazer128!**


End file.
